| I don't believe that working in fits and spurts is a written exception to the minimum wage law. To be covered by the Federal minimum wage, one must be a "covered nonexempt" employee. There are two ways in which an employee can be covered by the law: "enterprise coverage" and "individual coverage." [1] Enterprise Coverage
Employees who work for certain businesses or organizations (or "enterprises") are
covered by the FLSA. These enterprises, which must have at least two employees, are:
(1) those that have an annual dollar volume of sales or business done of at least
$500,000
(2) hospitals, businesses providing medical or nursing care for residents, schools and
preschools, and government agencies
Individual Coverage
Even when there is no enterprise coverage, employees are protected by the FLSA if their
work regularly involves them in commerce between States ("interstate commerce"). The FLSA
covers individual workers who are "engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for
commerce."
Examples of employees who are involved in interstate commerce include those who: produce
goods (such as a worker assembling components in a factory or a secretary typing letters
in an office) that will be sent out of state, regularly make telephone calls to persons
located in other States, handle records of interstate transactions, travel to other States
on their jobs, and do janitorial work in buildings where goods are produced for shipment
outside the State.
What I think that means is either Turkers are covered by FLSA if the HIT comes from a business which has more than $500k of annual sales volume.Or Turkers are covered under FLSA because their work involves commerce between states. Because their work itself is literally commerce between states on its face -- the writen work product is sent over the Internet -- I don't see how you weasel out of that one. I don't see how Turkers could be exempt from FLSA, but IANAL. [1] - https://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs14.htm |